There was a time when the RTS genre was huge in the PC gaming space, with franchises like Warcraft, StarCraft, Command & Conquer, and Age of Empires leading the charge. After the genre's golden era in the late 1990s and early 2000s, games like Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War and Company of Heroes from developer Relic pushed the genre forward with new mechanics, physics-based action, and even some light RPG-like elements.

When Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III launched in 2017, high-profile releases in the RTS genre were already few and far between. With Gamescom 2025 now underway in Cologne, Germany, RTS fans got a surprise treat with the announcement of Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV. The game is coming soon and is targeting a 2026 release window; however, this will be the first game that isn't developed by Relic.
But, this isn't a red flag as Dawn of War 4 is being developed by KING Art, the team behind the well-received Company of Heroes-inspired RTS Iron Harvest. And with that, Dawn of War 4 is set to be an epic RTS experience with over 70 campaign missions and four playable races - Space Marines, Orks, Necrons, and the Adeptus Mechanicus.

The campaign will support both single-player and co-op, with each faction getting its campaign with cinematics and fully animated cutscenes. Although the Dawn of War series is one that moved away from the more traditional RTS style of the first game to become a Diablo-meets-RTS experience of sorts, Dawn of War 4 is a return to the series' roots with base building, capturing supply lines, and building up a formidable army to conquer a map.
In addition to the campaign, the game is also set to feature a rich suite of 1v1, 2v2, and 3v3 multiplayer modes, in addition to the series' very cool co-op Last Stand mode. Check out the cinematic announcement trailer below, which also includes our first look at Dawn of War 4 gameplay.



